At a panel I was observing recently, the moderator asked if the panelist believe we live in a “post racial america” and at once the “multicultural diversity panel” set forth responses. In the end, all of the panelist agreed, that we don’t live in a “post racial america”. Citing personal experiences of adversity and even personal preferences.

I somewhat disagree and believe whole heartily that people care more about value than ethnicity.

Yes, perhaps much of the capital is controlled by a group from a certain ethnic background. However, I am willing to bet that if that group is given the chance to get in on a minority run business that will generate a 500x return, they would want to be involved.

Corporations, are sending jobs over seas to people who can create value regardless of the ethnicity of the workforce.

Everyday people, are also obsessed with VAUE. The success of value based companies Target, Walmart, GroupOn, etc exemplifies this new paradigm. The great thing about this is that there cant possibly be a correlation between one’s ability to deliver value and their ethnic background. 

So why is this different than 25 years ago?

During the industrial age, the only real value the average worker could provide is that of muscle. Moving widgets, lifting loads, building roads, etc. Muscle can be denied, stifled, or suffer discrimination.  The intellect, however, isn’t held by the same physical constraints as muscle. In fact, intellect thrives where muscle fails. While it does have preferences, intellect has no “ethnicity”. 

Contrary to the industrial age, where muscle was powerful, in the information age, intellect rules. We have the ability to generate value strictly through intellectual pursuits with very little muscle needed -Facebook, twitter, foursquare, etc.

What does this mean? Quite simply put, Dr King isn’t dreaming yet, but he is definitely on sheep 84. Grab your bootstraps. Its time to get to work.